New drills offer something for everyone

Medium-duty planting width, seed capacity and heavy-duty performance all come together in a new line of 10HD feeder cup grain drills from Great Plains.

Available in 15-, 20- and 25-foot widths, all three models feature a 2.4-bushel-per-foot seed box for fewer stops and more productivity.

According to Tom Evans, vice-president of sales at Great Plains, one of the keys to performance, however, is the rugged 10HD row unit, which combines precise seed placement with extreme versatility and 11 inches of vertical travel via the parallel linkage.

“It starts with heavy-duty down-pressure springs that offer six different settings for down-force pressures ranging from 250 to 500 pounds per row,” Evans adds. “Each row unit also features 15-inch by 4-millimeter thick planter blades for improved trash clearance and maximum strength and longevity. Producers will also appreciate the 18-position T-handle depth control that permits quick, precise setting of the opener depth.”

Another Great Plains feature is the cast blade separator that protects each planter seed tube and keeps the blades from pinching together when penetrating packed soil, ensuring that every seed reaches the bottom of the seed groove.

At that point, seed and moisture are sealed in with a choice of closing wheels — 2-inches × 13-inches or 3-inches × 13-inches single center rib; 1-inch × 12-inch double V, or 1.25-inch × 13.5-inch double wedge style — so customers can tailor the machine to their specific soil types and conditions.

Equipped with Great Plain's simple, but field proven fluted feed metering system, all models offer row spacings of 6, 7.5 and 10 inches. However, a precision model is also available, which offers singulation of a wide variety of seeds on each row.

“Available options to further customize these new models to individual needs include Keeton seed firmers, Seed-Loc wheels, unit-mounted coulters and row markers,” Evans concludes. “The bottom line is these new drills can be anything the customer wants them to be when the need calls for an economical, yet heavy-duty medium-sized model.”